FORGING AND SUPPORTING INTERGENERATIONAL CONNECTIONS: THE BREADTH OF INTERGENERATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP

Abstract Research on intergenerational connections is wide ranging, highlighting the various ways that people from across the life course interact for mutual and community benefit. Intergenerational connections occur through both formal (e.g., community service programs) and informal (e.g., family interactions) means. Studies have shown that intergenerational connections can lead to an assortment of physical, social, psychological, and interpersonal health and well-being outcomes for younger and older people alike. This symposium will highlight the breadth of research on intergenerational connections, bringing together scholars who have used primary and secondary data to better measure, understand, and support them. The first presentation will report the results of a randomized controlled trial in Tarrant County, Texas that trained college students to connect with older adults experiencing cognitive impairment through reminiscence and digital storytelling. The second presentation will describe how intergenerational transfers of emotional and instrumental support relate to self-rated health among older Chinese adults living in Honolulu while considering the roles of gender and resilience. The third presentation will address an important question within intergenerational scholarship—how to measure intergenerational connections—by reporting the results of the newly developed and validated Intergenerational Contact survey among an online sample of younger and older adults. The fourth presentation will describe the pilot-year evaluation of the Gen2Gen Innovation Fellowship, a cohort model that supports and connects leaders of intergenerational initiatives throughout the U.S. To conclude, our discussant will place these diverse studies into context and note places for continued innovation in intergenerational scholarship to better inform the field.

and older adults. To expand aging education beyond our aging and gerontology classes, we collaborated with our campus LGBT Center and community partners to host several intergenerational conversations between younger and older LGBTQ+ adults and allies. The goal was to foster connection across the generations in the LGBTQ+ community through discussions of topics of mutual interest (e.g., ageism, identity & language). Participants in the LGBTQ+ conversations reported that they valued the opportunity to talk with members of the community from different generations and that the conversations changed their views of one another in a positive way. We will discuss the strengths and challenges of our program, ideas for future programs and research, and suggestions for integrating discussion of LGBTQ+ aging into the classroom.

BUILDING COMMUNITY-BASED PARTNERSHIPS TO PROMOTE DIVERSE, INTERGENERATIONAL SERVICE-LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Jason Garbarino, and Janelle Sarnevitz, University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont, United States The next generation of healthcare providers require experiential learning opportunities which incorporate participation from historically marginalized, diverse populations. A longstanding interprofessional gerontology servicelearning program with a measured ability to positively influence student perspectives working with older adults while reducing rates of social isolation among older participants, underwent recent changes in the recruitment of older adults to ensure increased participation from historically marginalized populations. Building partnerships with community-based organizations serving BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and rural older adults played an integral role in building a more diverse participant group for shared, intergenerational learning. Opportunities for student reflection via group debriefs and individual, written reflections promote a greater understanding and preparedness to work with diverse older adult populations.

UNDERSTANDING AGING DIVERSITY THROUGH HUMANIST VALUES OF AGING: LOVE, HOPE, PEACE, AND STEWARDSHIP
Stephen Fogle, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, Nebraska, United States Humanist values of aging are relevant for understanding diversity in gerontological education because they are manifested across all cultures and ages. This paper proposes attention to four humanist values of aging: Love, Hope, Peace, Stewardship. This paper seeks opportunities for students to understand aging diversity in half century context: from traditional frames of race and sexuality to global conversations on language and geography. Drawing from stories about older adults this paper gathers diverse opportunities for understanding of humanist values of aging. Selections strive toward expanding representation of aging diversity and accessibility for students. Teaching with stories of love, hope, peace, and stewardship as humanist values of aging matches AGHE initiatives for incorporating humanities into gerontological education and opens opportunities for recognizing diversity representation in our society for all ages. Understanding aging diversity through stories of older adults engaged with humanist values of aging promises enriching educational experiences for lifelong learning. Curriculum mapping is a process where instructors, program leaders and other instructional designers come together to prepare learning objectives for students throughout a learning journey. The concepts of diversity may be introduced at all levels of a gerontology curriculum. A curriculum that desires to integrate diversity education is especially imperative as it needs to be built upon a guiding principle of a didactic program within which its individual courses, learning objectives, and assessments all together serve the same purpose. This presentation provides insight to the curriculum mappings for diversity education in gerontology programs. While the current programs introduce diversity topics such as race, racism, implicit bias, etc., how and when each topic being introduced in bringing about maximum learning outcomes may be related to a well thought out curriculum mapping. Specifically, this session will go over a few examples of methods for the mappings of diversity topics in different courses.

FORGING AND SUPPORTING INTERGENERATIONAL CONNECTIONS: THE BREADTH OF INTERGENERATIONAL SCHOLARSHIP
Chair: Cal Halvorsen Co-Chair: Ling Xu Discussant: Amy Eisenstein Research on intergenerational connections is wide ranging, highlighting the various ways that people from across the life course interact for mutual and community benefit. Intergenerational connections occur through both formal (e.g., community service programs) and informal (e.g., family interactions) means. Studies have shown that intergenerational connections can lead to an assortment of physical, social, psychological, and interpersonal health and well-being outcomes for younger and older people alike. This symposium will highlight the breadth of research on intergenerational connections, bringing together scholars who have used primary and secondary data to better measure, understand, and support them. The first presentation will report the results of a randomized controlled trial in Tarrant County, Texas that trained college students to connect with older adults experiencing cognitive impairment through reminiscence and digital storytelling. The second presentation will describe how intergenerational transfers of emotional and instrumental support relate to self-rated health among older Chinese adults living in Honolulu while considering the roles of gender and resilience. The third presentation will address an important question within intergenerational scholarship-how to measure intergenerational connections-by reporting the results of the newly developed and validated Intergenerational Contact survey among an online sample of younger and older adults. The fourth presentation will describe the pilot-year evaluation of the Gen2Gen Innovation Fellowship, a cohort model that supports and connects leaders of intergenerational initiatives throughout the U.S. To conclude, our discussant will place these diverse studies into context and note places for continued innovation in intergenerational scholarship to better inform the field. To address the growing concern about loneliness and diminished well-being among persons with cognitive impairment, an intergenerational intervention based on reminiscence and digital storytelling was offered by trained college student volunteers to older adults living in the community. A randomized controlled trial was used to assess the effects of the intervention. Younger and older adult participants were randomly paired and assigned to reminiscence (n=20) or control (social wellness, n=16) groups. Data were collected at baseline, mid-intervention, and at the end of the intervention. Friedman tests for non-normally distributed outcome variables and one-way repeated measures ANOVA for normally distributed outcome variables were conducted. Results showed that emotional loneliness, total social and emotional loneliness, quality of life, and positive affect significantly improved among older adults in the reminiscence group, especially between baseline and posttest. Results suggest that weekly intergenerational engagements with young adults benefit older adults with psychological well-being.

INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSFERS AND HEALTH IN CHINESE OLDER ADULTS: DO RESILIENCE AND GENDER MATTER?
Sizhe Liu 1 , Wei Zhang 2 , Keqing Zhang 2 , and Bei Wu 3 , 1. Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, Shanghai, China (People's Republic), 2. University of Hawaii at Manoa,Honolulu,Hawaii,United States,3. New York University,New York,New York,United States Emotional and instrumental supports from adult children have been shown to increase positive outcomes among older adults. In this study, we examined the association between intergenerational transfer and self-rated health as well as the mediating and moderating roles of resilience and gender, respectively, using data from Chinese older adults in Honolulu (N=400). We found that the impact of emotional and instrumental support varied by gender. Further, we found that resilience significantly mediated the positive effect of provided economic support on health of older men (resilience mediated 25.1% of the total effect) as well as the positive effect of received emotional support on health of older women (resilience mediated 35.3% of the total effect). Our study highlights the importance of considering resilience and gender differences when examining intergenerational transfers and health among Chinese older adults. The design of a culturally tailored policy would help promote the health of Chinese older adults.

MEASURING GENERATIONAL DIFFERENCES IN INTERGENERATIONAL CONTACT WITH A NEWLY VALIDATED SCALE
Shannon Jarrott 1 , Shelbie Turner 2 , and Karen Hooker 3 , 1. The Ohio State University,Columbus,Ohio,United States,2. Weill Cornell Medical College,Pitman,New Jersey,United States,3. Oregon State University,Corvallis,Oregon,United States 2. Intergenerational contact influences attitudes about aging, but measures vary in breadth, depth, and psychometrics. We developed and validated the Intergenerational Contact survey of key contact dimensions using online samples. Here, we address: how do young and older adults differ in location and ratings of intergenerational contact? Young (n=433) and older adults (n=286) reported intergenerational contact settings and rated 18 items regarding contact (e.g., "I have something to offer younger/older adults.") with family and non-family members. Neighborhoods were a common setting for interacting with family and non-family members of different ages. Young adults reported higher negative contact (p<.001) and lower positive contact (p<.001) with related and unrelated older adults than older adults reporting having with younger adults. Developmental theory may partially explain these differences; we address next steps to explore how differences may affect interest in or avoidance of intergenerational contact, associated impacts, and potential interventions.

PILOTING AN INTERGENERATIONAL ECOSYSTEM: THE GEN2GEN INNOVATION FELLOWSHIP AND RESULTS FROM YEAR 1
Cal Halvorsen 1 , Eunice Lin Nichols 2 , and Janet Oh 2 , 1. Boston College,Allston,Massachusetts,United States,2. Encore.org,San Francisco,California,United States Intergenerational service has a long history in the U.S., highlighting the positive health and well-being outcomes of bringing the generations together. In recent years, private foundations have increased their focus on intergenerational initiatives, yet the creation of an "intergenerational ecosystem" that is designed to spark, grow, and support new intergenerational initiatives has not been nationally tested. In response, Encore.org launched the Gen2Gen Innovation Fellowship in 2020 to pilot and hone a 9-month fellowship model that supports a diverse group of leaders of intergenerational initiatives. To assess the impact of the Fellowship, we employed a mixed-methods approach with subjective and objective data sources, including interviews and monthly and post-Fellowship surveys. Among the first cohort of 15 Fellows, results suggest that the cohortstyle model encouraged peer-to-peer support and that the Fellowship positively influenced their intergenerational efforts. We conclude by describing lessons learned to inspire future efforts to strengthen the intergenerational ecosystem.